rebâtirvsrevêtirTell them apart

Which to use

“rebâtir” and “revêtir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,236
“rebâtir” frequency rank
#26,854
“revêtir” frequency rank
62090
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rebâtir revêtir
Definition Bâtir de nouveau. Pourvoir de vêtements quelqu’un qui en a besoin.

Where the eye mixes rebâtir and revêtir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. rebâtir and revêtir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
rebâtir
7 ch
revêtir

Look-alike desk: rebâtir vs revêtir

A purely visual mix-up. rebâtir (\ʁə.ba.tiʁ\) and revêtir (\ʁə.ve.tiʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62090, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rebâtir is recorded at frequency rank #35,236, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ba.tiʁ\. revêtir is at rank #26,854, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ve.tiʁ\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 62090, this pair ranks #88,864 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rebâtir vs revêtir

Shared letters: eirt. Private to "rebâtir": . Private to "revêtir": .

"rebâtir" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "revêtir" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rebâtir" and "revêtir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.ba.tiʁ\ versus \ʁə.ve.tiʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rebâtir" or "revêtir"?
"revêtir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,854 in our French list, against #35,236 for "rebâtir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rebâtir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "revêtir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #88,864 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rebâtir" and "revêtir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "revêtir vs revêtue". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #88,864 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list